The two main candidates in Australia’s cliffhanger election began scrambling last weekend to win the support of three independent lawmakers and a newly elected Greens party representative who will decide which party forms a minority government in one of the tightest races ever seen.

    By late Sunday, with nearly 80 percent of the vote counted, neither the governing center-left Labor Party nor a conservative opposition coalition had captured enough votes to claim a majority in the 150-member House of Representatives.

    About two million mail ballots have not yet been counted and it could take at least a week before the final result is known.

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her conservative rival, Tony Abbott, began what many analysts expect to be a lengthy period of negotiations to win over the crucial bloc. Australia has not had a minority government since 1940.

    <<<背景介绍

       澳大利亚工党在周六大选前获得了83席，丢了至少13席，有可能成为近80年来第一个只任期一届（三年）的政党。绿党获得了有史以来最多的票数，主要是由于工党的一贯支持者不满政府把碳排放限额交易政策推迟到2013年的决定，因而改投绿党。